Get Onto My Cloud

Hard-traveling entrepreneurs often carry a laptop and a smartphone, but they rarely carry a printer. CloudPrint, a new beta service from Hewlett-Packard, could be a big boost to mobile users who want to store and share documents via mobile phones. CloudPrint works by downloading and installing a virtual printer driver to your computer. You can then "print" to CloudPrint from your document creation program (or e-mail it to CloudPrint as an attachment), making documents available for retrieval. Enter recipients' phone numbers, and they will get a text message with a code to access the document in PDF format from any web browser--without having to log in to an e-mail account. The online Find a Printer service helps you track down printers you can use.

HP plans to turn CloudPrint into a much more sophisticated service in the future. Check back for Mac support, as well as iPhone and smartphone-specific features. Visit cloudprint.net for more information and to get started.

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This article was originally published in the February 2008 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Get Onto My Cloud.